Improvement in lids or covers for cans



t. BRYANT.

Fruit Jar.

Patented Nov. 10, 1863.

Witnesses= Inventor,

JOEL BRYANT, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN LIDS OR COVERS FOR CANS, 84 0.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,552, dated November10, 1863.

To It whom, it may concern: Beitknown that I, J OEL BRYANT, of Brooklyn,in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new andImproved Mode of Constructing Covers for Jars or Cans; and I declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and correct description of the same, -towit:

The nature of my invention consists in providing covers for jars or canswith a plug or screw set in an opening or hole in the center of saidcover for the escape and admission of air for securing and destroying avacuum in jars or cans on which said covers are used.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention,-I willproceed more fully to describe the construction and operation of myimproved covers, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, andt0 the figures and letters marked thereon, and forming a part of thisspecification, to wit:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of my improved covers as providedwith an opening intheir center, in which I set a plug or screw, S, orits equivalent, for the escape from or the admission of air into jars orcans in the process of putting up and preserving fruits and vegetablesubstances. Fig. 2 represents a half-section of my improved covers L asprovided with a central opening, V, and a plug or screw, S, which ismade to fit snugly into the said opening or hole V, so as to be raisedup or screwed down into the said opening V for the escapeof air or forthe admission of air into jars or cans on which my improved covers L areused in putting up and preserving fruit or vegetable substances.

Imake my improved covers L of any suitable substances, and substantiallyas other covers or stoppers are made, eircept that I form an opening orhole, V, in the center of said covers L, and form a plug or screw, S,substantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and which is made to fit snuglyinto the said hole V, and so as to be raised up for the admission orescape of air, or forced down for the exclusion of air, as circumstancesmay require, in closing or opening jars or cans.

The object of my invention is to afford an easy and reliable means forallowing the esing a vacuum therein whenthe air has been expelled andwhile the jars or cans are in a hot bath, as also to secure atmosphericpress me on said-covers L, and to remove the said atmospheric pressurewhen said jars or cans are to be opened.

The principal use of my improved covers L are that in their use on jarsor cans the same may be filled with the fruits or substances to bepreserved, and the covers L secured thereon so as to be airtight beforethey are set in the hot bath, and when the jars or cans are thus filledand set\in' a. hot bath, the plug or screw S may be loosened or raised,so that the air may escape through the hole V in the said covers L, andwhen the air has been expelled and a] vacuum formed in said jars or cansthen the said plugs or screws S may be forced or screwed down, so as toprevent the access of air and secure the vacuum which has been formed insaid jars or cans, and then the top part of said plugs or screws S formsa very convenient means for lifting the jars or cans from the bath, thewholeprocess of sealing being completed, the process being accomplishedbefore the jars or cans are lifted, and in an easy, convenient, andsecure way, as it affords no chance for the air to re-enter the jars orcans as there is in the ordinary way of lifting the jars or cans beforesealing or securing them air-tight.

Having now described the construction, the nature, and use of myinvention, I desire to secure the same by Letters Patent, and asfollows, to wit:

The exclusive use of lids or covers L for jars or cans when providedwith an opening,

as herein described, and for the purposes set forth.

J OEL BRYANT \Vitnesses:

\VALTER NIcHoL, WM. BRYANT.

cape of air from jars or cans, and the secur- V, and plug or screw S.(Ortheir equivalent,) when constructed and operatingsubstantially

